MOTH PLANE TRAGEDY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20147, 7 January 1929, Page 11

MOTH PLANE TRAGEDY.

TWO YOUNG MEN KILLED. FIERCE RUSH OF FLAMES. A BOXING DAY TRAGEDY. After spinning several times in the air from a height of 300 ft., a Moth aeroplane nose-dived, crashed to the ground, and burst into flames at Essondon, Melbourne, on Boxing Day. The pilot and a passenger, who were apparently killed instantly, were. burned almost beyond recognition.- Their names were: —Brian Rhodes, aged 21, motor salesman, and Alfred Heaton, aged 18, mechanic.

Rhodes left the Essendon aerodrome shortly after 5 o'clock in the afternoon in a De Havilland Moth aeroplane. Heaton, who was a frequent visitor to the aerodrome, had persuaded Rhodes to take him for a flight. According to the stories of several eye-witnesses the aeroplane had been in the air for only a few minutes when it swerved suddenly and descended in a series of spirals over an open paddock near the aerodrome.

Suddenly the machine nose-dived and crashed to the ground. For some seconds it was completely obscured by dense smoke and then fierce flames burst from it. Several people rushed to the paddock, but by the time they had arrived—about 10 minutes after the accident—the aeroplane had been practically destroyed and the pilot and tho passenger were dead.

Mr. William Williams, of Ascot Vale, who saw the accident, said that there was a more than usually heavy discharge from the exhaust pipe at the beginning of the spin. He saw a spurt of flame from some part of the engine just before the 'piano dived to the ground.

Brian Rhodes was the only son of Mr. J. S. Rhodes, managing director of Rhodes Motor Co., Pty., Ltd. After leaving school he went to the United States for business experience. He was an enthusiastic member of the Australia 4ero Club, Victorian section. He held a pilot's licence. Heaton was a mechanic employed by the State Electricity Commission. He was advised two days before his death that he had been accepted as a candidate for admittance to the Royal Australian Air Force.